You are here

The defeat Tuesday in a Virginia Republican congressional primary election of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor by a previously unknown tea party adherent, David Brat, is forcing a reshuffling of the deck on the 2014 midterm elections.

What Cantor’s loss actually means will provoke extended discussion and perhaps some revision of election strategy all around.

First of all, Americans who favor Congress addressing the country’s major issues in a timely, efficient fashion will not regret the departure of Mr. Cantor from the scene. He was consistently at the forefront of efforts to obstruct enterprises by President Barack Obama, the Democrats and even others in the Republican Party caucus in the House who would address issues in a spirit of reasonableness. Part of Cantor’s strategy always included his own clear desire to move up within the Republican delegation in Congress one day to replace Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, usually an unhelpful element in Cantor’s game.

The issue that was most visible among those that brought Cantor down was Brat’s criticism of him for seeking compromise on immigration reform. Cantor’s defeat, in part on that issue, does not bode well for prospects for immigration change in general, in spite of the fact that important Republican business campaign financiers desire it.

The success at the polls of Brat, an economics professor at Randolph-Macon College who has stated what might be considered by some to be extreme right-wing views, may raise questions for Republicans in other races. On the one hand, it may signal greater life in the Tea Party movement than has been being attributed to it recently by analysts and, more important, by big conservative donors. On the other hand, in general, Republican Party managers, based on their experience in the 2012 elections, have not favored nominating as their party’s candidates people who are so extreme and vocal in their views as to risk turning off even conservative center voters.

In the Virginia 7th District, which Cantor lost, the Democratic candidate is another Randolph-Macon professor, Jack Trammell, but chances of his taking the seat from the Republicans are considered to be slim. It includes suburban Richmond and areas of rural Virginia.

Finally, whatever one may think of Cantor, the idea that a seven-term incumbent, with an estimated $8 million in campaign money at his disposal, could be defeated by a virtual unknown, with a reported war chest of only $200,000, is encouraging in terms of what some voters think of cash-fat, longtime members of the country’s elected leadership.

Rules for posting comments

Comments posted below are from readers. In no way do they represent the view of Stephens Media LLC or this newspaper. This is a public forum.

Comments may be monitored for inappropriate content but the newspaper is under no obligation to do so. Comment posters are solely responsible under the Communications Decency Act for comments posted on this Web site. Stephens Media LLC is not liable for messages from third parties.

IP and email addresses of persons who post are not treated as confidential records and will be disclosed in response to valid legal process.

Do not post:

Potentially libelous statements or damaging innuendo.

Obscene, explicit, or racist language.

Copyrighted materials of any sort without the express permission of the copyright holder.

Personal attacks, insults or threats.

The use of another person's real name to disguise your identity.

Comments unrelated to the story.

If you believe that a commenter has not followed these guidelines, please click the FLAG icon below the comment.